May 9th, 2015: My third and final day in Budapest, Hungary was upon me. I woke up bright and early, short on sleep but in high spirits. That didn't last long, as I made a beeline for a decidedly un-cheery museum: the House of Terror.
Although today it's an powerful, informational museum, the house at 60 Andrássy Boulevard once housed Hungary's version of the Gestapo during the Nazi occupation and thereafter communist Hungary's secret police. Hundreds of victims were imprisoned and executed in the building's basement, both Jews and suspected enemies of whichever government was in power.
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| The overhang casts a shadow outline of the word "TERROR" on the ground |
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| A curtain of chains represents the Iron Curtain that descended across Europe |
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| A Soviet T-54 tank and 3,200 portraits of prisoners murdered in this building adorn the lobby. Technically, photos weren't allowed inside... oops |
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| After traversing through two floors of exhibits, I entered the basement, whose rooms were used as a prison, execution site, and torture chamber until 1967 |
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| A memorial to the victims of the communist secret police |
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| Berlin is everywhere! A piece of the Berlin wall outside the museum |
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| After the museum, I explored Budapest's most impressive urban thoroughfare, the 140-foot wide Andrássy út. When in power, the Communists tried changing its name to Hungarian Youth Boulevard and then to People's Republic Boulevard, but the historical name persists today. Here's a panorama of the Kodály Körönd intersection |
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| A statue of composer Franz Liszt dramatically playing an imaginary piano |
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| Statues of Hungarian heroes and historical figures adorn the monument |
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| The Hungarian War Memorial |
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Magyars, the Central Asian ancestors of today's Hungarians, stand at the base of the column on powerful horses. The archangel Gabriel is way up on top
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| Hungarian knights, kings, and nobles |
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| I remember this guy! He's that disturbingly violent saint, Istvan (described here), who was also the first Christian king of Hungary |
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| A monument celebrating the 1956 uprising against the Communists. Back then, the rebels bravely cut down a giant Stalin statue that stood here |
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| Moving on to City Park, I caught my first glimpse of the Vajdahunyad Castle, originally built as a temporary exhibition piece in the late 1800s |
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| Since it's not a real historical castle, it combines Renaissance, Romanesque, Baroque and Gothic styles into an entertaining mishmash |
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| Baroque |
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| Renaissance |
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| Romanesque |
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| A George Washington statue minding his own business behind the castle |
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| Budapest sits on hot springs, and the residents take advantage of it with thermal baths, such as the Széchenyi Baths here. Yes, you keep your bathing suit on |
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| Back in the city. Now, I just have to kill some time until I can take my final shots of Budapest at dusk |
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An office building called the Ankerház
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| Budapest's Great Synagogue, the biggest in Europe and second biggest in the world |
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| A long series of courtyards called Gozsdu Udvar burrows through a city block and plays hosts to restaurants and shops |
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| Back out to the riverfront |
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| Completed in 1906 but left neglected after WWII until 1999, Gresham Palace is now a luxury hotel |
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| Sunset! Time for pictures! Chain Bridge with the sun setting over Matthias Church |
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| Ahhh, dusk! |
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| St. Steven's Basilica |
Well, all good things must come to an end, they say, and my stay in Budapest would do just that after I spent one last night out at the city's bars with my friend Catherine. I loved the city so much that I decided it was the favorite non-German place I had visited! (It stayed that way until I visited one other mystery city I will reveal in a future post.) The architecture is stunning, the views are breathtaking, the language is exotic, nightlife options are plentiful, and the city felt real and not full of tourists. Go check it out yourself! Remember - bring a camera.
